Nature Communications (Apr 2021)

Disruption of the HER3-PI3K-mTOR oncogenic signaling axis and PD-1 blockade as a multimodal precision immunotherapy in head and neck cancer

  • Zhiyong Wang,
  • Yusuke Goto,
  • Michael M. Allevato,
  • Victoria H. Wu,
  • Robert Saddawi-Konefka,
  • Mara Gilardi,
  • Diego Alvarado,
  • Bryan S. Yung,
  • Aoife O’Farrell,
  • Alfredo A. Molinolo,
  • Umamaheswar Duvvuri,
  • Jennifer R. Grandis,
  • Joseph A. Califano,
  • Ezra E. W. Cohen,
  • J. Silvio Gutkind

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22619-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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There is an unmet need to improve the response to immune checkpoint blockade in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Here the authors show that aberrant HER3 activation sustains the proliferation of PIK3CA wild type HNSCC cells and that HER3 inhibition increases response to PD-1 blockade in HNSCC preclinical models.